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Coming full circle: 2.5 years after construction, Boulder's Valmont Bike Park to host Cyclocross National Championships

Five-day event poised to bolster city's reputation in cycling world

By Joe Rubino Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
01/04/2014 07:11:25 PM MST

Updated:
01/04/2014 09:13:03 PM MST

If you go

What: The 2014 Cyclocross National Championships

When: Wednesday through Sunday. Registration begins at 8 a.m. daily. Races occur throughout the day, with the last event typically beginning between 2:30 and 3:15 p.m. before the course closes at 5 p.m.

Where: Boulder's Valmont Bike Park, located northeast of the intersection of Valmont and Airport Roads.

Boulder is no stranger to hosting high-profile cycling events--see: 2012 USA Pro Cycling Challenge, Stage 6 -- but this week it will be accommodating a unique, and increasingly popular breed of 2-wheeled competition.

After being awarded the event way back in February of 2012, Boulder's Valmont Bike Park from Wednesday to Sunday will at last welcome the 2014 Cyclocross National Championships.

The championships could include as many as 1,600 racers -- ranging in age from eight to 80-- over the five-day event, and thousands of spectators, according to organizers, demonstrating the burgeoning popularity of cyclocross -- a cycling sport unlike any other.

"It's kind of like steeplechase on bicycles," Micah Rice, vice president of national events for USA Cycling, explained. "It's a combination of what you can ride with a road bike, what you can ride with a mountain bike and some running elements."

Max Robson, 13, of Boulder, runs up a set of stairs with his bicycle at the Valmont Bike Park on Thursday, while practicing for the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships.
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JEREMY PAPASSO
)

Rice said USA Cycling chose Boulder to out of three finalist cities that bid to host the 2014 championships for a variety of reasons, including local bike culture and quality of Valmont Bike Park.

"Boulder is just such a great cycling town. It's known nationally and even internationally by people who ride bikes," Rice said. "We also look at the quality of the course. And we picked a venue that we think is going to work for the National Championships."

A vision finally coming full circle

The Valmont Bike Park won't be three years old until June, but hosting this week's event brings to fruition goals set by some members of the local cycling community long before the park opened to the public.

Mountain Bike Hall of Fame member Pete Webber moved to Boulder from his home state of Maine in 1993 to pursue a career in professional mountain biking, but later became deeply involved with advocacy while working with the International Mountain Bicycling Association.

He said he and many others from various corners of the Boulder cycling universe worked to make the bike park a reality for 10 years before ground was even broken.

Webber was deeply involved in the design of the park and has worked to design the enhanced course for the national championships.

"It's incredibly gratifying to realize; just to see our vision come full circle," Webber said. "Just the day-to-day recreational use of Valmont has been a huge success, but to also now see it host a national level championship is the icing on the cake."

Michael Eubank, Boulder's Valmont Bike Park project manager, echoed Webber's sentiments about the daily popularity and success that the young, $1.2 million facility has enjoyed, noting the city's bike culture is a major driver of that.

"There is niche that is not unique to the Valmont bike park but probably unique to Boulder itself where we have the capacity and cycling in our blood that really encourages us to utilize the park," he said.

Webber, 44, is the reigning national champion in the Male Master 40-44 division and will seek to defend his title on his home course at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

He said he has been working with many volunteers and city staff to make the course as exciting and challenging as possible and thinks it will be ideal for casual fans watching from the sidelines.

"Cyclocross provides the best spectator experience because racers do multiple laps on a short course and come by the same point time after time," he said, before turning his attention to where onlookers might find the best views at Valmont during the championships.

"What we call the 'Side of the Mesa' will be a party all week," he said, referring to an area on the north end of the park. "The primary attraction will be the 5280 Run-Up, which is a double flight of stairs that the racers must shoulder their bikes and run up and that is positioned at 5,280 feet of elevation. Also in that area are two steep downhill sections."

Considering that Boulder received record snowfall on Saturday, conditions could be challenging on the course come Wednesday.

Webber said that's all part of the fun for cyclocross, a sport designed for the wet, cold, muddy months in the fall and winter.

"I'd like it to be warm and sunny with about a foot of snow on the ground," he said of the ideal conditions for his race Saturday.

Ride your bike to the bike race

Webber isn't the only racer hoping for nasty conditions, according to USA Cycling's Rice.

"The participants are all begging for rain and snow," he said. "Some would call it an equalizer. If it's slick for one person, it's slick for everyone."

To enhance the experience for spectators throughout the week who may be less enthused when it comes to bad weather, there will be an associated cycling expo in Valmont City Park featuring numerous vendors from the Boulder area and elsewhere, Rice said.

Food trucks and vendors will be on hand and several beer gardens will be set up, he added.

"It's going to be so much fun," he said.

On Sunday, the day when high-caliber riders -- some on their way to the cyclocross world championships in Holland next month -- will take part in the male junior 17-18 race, and male and female elite races, large screens will be set up in the park to show the action, Rice said. Those three races also will be available via webcast.

One issue with the Valmont Park area is a dearth of public parking.

With that in mind, Eubank said he encourages people to use the city's many trails in the area to ride their bikes to the event if at all possible.

"Please do not get in a car to come celebrate this event with us," he said.

'It's an excuse to get muddy'

Among those who will be racing against Webber in the male 40-44 category Saturday are his friends, Boulder Cycle Sport teammates and fellow champions of the sport in Boulder, Greg Keller and Brandon Dwight.

Dwight, a 3-time cyclocross national champion himself, is co-owner of Boulder Cycle Sport and said that since opening in 2005 the shop has catered to cyclocross riders, and has provided free clinics to try and build the sport's popularity.

He said he expects the shop to see some increased business around the event, but most racers are likely already prepared. He is more focused on Boulder hosting such a high-profile event.

"Boulder has always been one of the hotspots for cyclocross across the U.S. and we've just never really had the venue to host such a big event," he said. "I know when this park was designed it was designed for the community first and foremost, but we always wanted to host a big-time cyclocross race. We deserve it."

Keller said he has been extremely pleased to see the sport he loves take root in Boulder and grow. He is a co-coach of Boulder Junior Cycling and said in the last four to five years the number of kids who take part in the group's cyclocross program has ballooned from about a dozen to more than 50.

"I'm super passionate about building this what used to be a fringe sport into what I refer to now--especially for juniors--as the new little league," Keller said. "The sport is extremely accessible. From the racers' perspective and the kids' perspective the sport is just downright fun. It's an excuse to get muddy."

Keller said he had kids on youth teams from other states join in some Boulder Junior Cycling practices last week in the lead-up to the championships, with the goal of strengthening relationships and the sport itself.

His sons -- Aiden, 11, and Sheamus, 9, -- will be racing this week as well, and he hopes the next generation of "cyclocross nerds" will continue to cultivate the sport locally so that the Valmont Bike Park may one day host even higher profile international competitions.

"This could quite literally be the single best cyclocross course on earth," he said "And we are so proud to make these (national championships) the best event that people have ever experienced."

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